Hardtack 1958
US Atomic Veterans
Rodney Buntzen
Rodney Buntzen sent email about his duty at Operation Hardtack.
From: "rod buntzen" buntzenr@covad.net
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Hardtack I
Date: January 25, 2008
I began working at the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory (NRDL), located at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, in 1957 while a junior in Engineering Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. I worked in the Radiation Physics Division’s Ocean Technology Branch during the summer and continued part time through the spring of 1958 while attending classes at Berkeley. Being part of the field experimental group preparing instrumentation for the Hardtack I underwater shots Wahoo and Umbrella during the preceding year, I was asked to participate in the team’s field work at Parry Island on Eniwetok. Begging my professors to take late exams for the spring semester, I arrived on Perry Island on May 17th, just after Wahoo.
In preparation for the tests, my work focused on calculating of the prompt radiation fields from the plume and base surge that developed after an underwater burst. At Parry Island, I was Jack-of-all-trades for Evan Evans, the Project 2.3 Manager. I continued estimations of the radiation fields, participated in surveys of the instrument arrays that surrounded Umbrella, painted film pack floats and just about anything else Evan thought needed to be done.
Umbrella, a 10 kt burst at about 150 ft depth, created a large base surge as the underwater radioactive plume fell back into the water. The instrument array placed shortly before consisted of a number of moored coracles containing multiple fallout and radiation field measuring instruments. In addition, floating film packs were distributed around ground zero to measure the total dose from the base surge as a function of range and direction. My job during the event was to recover floating film packs after the base surge subsided.
I was “captain” of a DUKW and crew for the recovery operation. We were dead in the water about a mile from ground zero, with engine off, when the burst occurred. Too far away for much of a shock wave, the most impressive display was the plume and unfolding base surge. Once the water was calm again, we got the radio call from Evan, who was aboard the USS Boxer (CV-21) monitoring the test, to begin film pack recovery. Since we could accidentally venture near/into radioactive water, everyone wore protective clothing and I carried two Geiger counters (in case one failed). Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) the engine would not start and the recovery operation was delayed.
Following Umbrella, work centered on packing up and preparing a preliminary report. I returned to Berkeley while others did most of the report writing. I continued working at NRDL until the laboratory closed in 1967 when the Navy decided it knew all it needed to know about underwater nuclear explosions. I continued an exciting career as a Navy scientist and am now retired.
Rodney Buntzen
Calistoga, CA 94515
Email: buntzenr@covad.net
Keith Whittle
January 30, 2008
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